Fat helps skin grow smoothly

Thursday

A unique kind of fat might hold seemingly contradictory properties: the ability to get rapidly dividing cells to calm down and the ability to jump-start lethargic, aging skin cells.

Wendy Bollag's research at the Medical College of Georgia is attracting attention from biotech companies and the cosmetic industry. She is looking at a fat molecule called phosphatidylglycerol, or PG for short, as a potential treatment for both psoriasis and aging or sun-damaged skin.

Skin cells form in the lower basal layer and mature as they move up through subsequent skin layers, turning on different genes and proteins, depending on which layer they are in, Dr. Bollag said.

In diseases such as psoriasis, the cells continue to divide when they shouldn't and create inflammation, which most commonly appears as patchy red skin with scales on top. Dr. Bollag found that PG applied to rapidly dividing mouse skin cells acted as a signal to those cells to stop dividing and mature.

But oddly enough, when researchers decided to test PG on skin cells that were not dividing enough, it stimulated new growth, Dr. Bollag said.

"This was somewhat of a surprise to us," she said.

It led to the school filing a patent on PG "as a way to normalize skin function," she said. "Because if the cells were growing quickly, it slowed 'em down. If they were growing slowly, it speeded them up. Obviously that would have potential implications also to aging, and photoaging (sun damage)."

Data suggest that in aging skin that is not growing properly, the mitochondria, or the powerhouses for the cell, might be depleted or impaired, Dr. Bollag said. PG appears to either boost the mitochondria, or it is converted into something that helps the cell produce more energy.

"And you can imagine if you speed up energy production you've got a lot more energy then to do things like divide and differentiate properly," Dr. Bollag said. When she presents the findings at conferences, she is often surrounded later by representatives from the cosmetic industry. PG also has an advantage over some other compounds in that it is something the body already produces. "I think that's probably another reason why the cosmetic industry is excited, because it's going to be something that's natural," Dr. Bollag said.

John Edwards, the CEO of Apeliotus Technologies, first heard Dr. Bollag talk about her work at a retreat two years ago.

"And I thought to myself, 'Wow, this is a very fascinating, very fundamental, potentially useful thing,'" he said. "So she and I got into conversations, and next thing you know I'd licensed her technology."

Their partnership is seeking a grant from the National Institutes of Health to test the compound in mouse models that simulate psoriasis. The researchers also are seeking a Georgia Research Alliance grant to test it in a mouse model that simulates aged skin.

"From a business perspective, as long as it works one of the two ways, it just sort of doubles my chances," said Mr. Edwards, whose company is based in Atlanta but will be opening an office in MCG's biotech incubator.

That animal model testing should signal whether the early results will pan out, and there could be a big payoff if they do, he said. The "cosmaceutical market" in the U.S., with cosmetics promising druglike effects, is expected to attract nearly 100 million customers a year who want anti-aging creams.

"Both of us have this interest in getting this thing out of the lab and into the real world," he said.

Skin creams for centuries have included glycerol or glycerin to soothe or soften skin. In some cases, the skin might have molecular problems that prevent it from converting the glycerol into useful products, one of which might be phosphatidylglycerol - or PG for short. Giving PG directly might be a way to apply the same kind of benefits glycerol normally provides to skin conditions such as psoriasis or as a way to rejuvenate aging skin. Dr. Bollag's findings are being published today in the online version of the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.

Source: Dr. Wendy Bollag, Medical College of Georgia

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